Olympic Hero’s Charity Tied To Islamic Cleric Who Called for Jihad

Mo Farah, a British Olympic gold medalist, who resides in Portland, Oregon, has a charitable foundation that has been linked to a controversial Islamic cleric who has urged British ­Muslims to wage holy war.

Farah, who was born in Somalia, set up the Mo Farah Foundation in 2011 to help people affected by drought in the Horn of Africa.

So far the charity – which is backed by Bono, Sir Bob Geldof, Richard Curtis and Paula Radcliffe – has raised more than £900,000 for poor ­communities in Somalia.

But the body originally charged with delivering Mo’s mission on the ground in Somalia, Muslim Hands, is headed by ­Musharaf Hussain, an Islamic ­ scholar with anti-West views.

The Nottingham cleric features in a number of videos on YouTube ­including one in which he uses the offensive ­Arabic term “kuffar” to describe non- Muslims.

He goes on to justify the use of jihad by Muslims against non-believers.

In a 2010 sermon, he said it was a “wise cause” to fight non-believers “because they are tyrants”.

He added: “This is why the Koran says get out and go whether you are lightly armed or heavily armed, whether you have all the means or not, you must take part in this jihad.”

Hussain

is the head of Muslim Hands, a charity that raised an income of more than £13million last year alone.

In accounts posted on the Charity Commission website for the financial year ending March 31, 2013, trustees of the Mo Farah Foundation boasted of their close relationship with Muslim Hands.

Mo’s charity also lists controversial Islamic organisation Tauheedul Relief Trust as a ­ partner on its website. In February the Trust donated £20,000 to the Mo Farah Foundation.

But it later emerged that a school run by the Blackburn-based group forced pupils to wear a hijab in and out of class.

Rules at Tauheedul Islam Girls’ High School also require its 800 pupils to “not bring stationery to school that contains un-Islamic images”. In 2011 Sheikh Abdul Rahman al-Sudais, a Saudi cleric alleged to have referred to Jews as “pigs” and “scum”, visited the school.

Last night Diana Nell – Mo Farah’s sister-in-law, inset, and spokeswoman for the Mo Farah Foundation – claimed the partnership with Muslim Hands was now defunct.